A generic knee restraint means is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,784,223. By means of a knee restraint means a non-buckled up vehicle occupant is prevented from diving forwards in the direction of the footwell in a crash situation. In the case of the known knee restraint means, the gas bag is disposed below the steering column behind a gas bag cover which comprises a break line. In a crash situation, the deploying gas bag breaks through the cover and is deployed towards the knees of the occupant to cushion the movement of the knees. As regards the position of the destructed gas bag cover, it must always be assured that an occupant in a crash situation cannot bounce against it and becoming injured thereby.
Furthermore, a knee restraint means is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,312,131, the gas bag cover of which is configured as a hingable lid, here too it being necessary to assure that the vehicle occupant cannot be injured by the lid in a crash situation.
In addition, known deformable elements incorporated in the region of the knee room to cushion the knees of an occupant in a crash situation offer only inadequate protection and restrict the knee room due to their thickness as required technically.
In the case of knee restraint means known hitherto, there is also the risk for occupants situated outside of the center seated position that their knees side-slip the knee restraint means and are not restrained.